The Secret Life of Words

Phrases made up of regular words can be used to describe something totally different thus becoming a form of secret communication (also known as slang). Teenagers do it, baseball players do it, and of course we know spies do it. But thanks to an article in the November 2010 issue of Readers Digest, we can now decode “Airline Lingo”, phrases pilots use to describe a variety of situations.

Blue juice: The water in the lavatory toilet. “There’s no blue juice in the lav.”

Crotch watch: The required check to make sure all passengers have their seat belts fastened. Also: “groin scan.”

Crumb crunchers: Kids. “We’ve got a lot of crumb crunchers on this flight.”

Gate lice: People who gather around the gate right before boarding so they can be first on the plane. “Oh, the gate lice are thick today.”

George: Autopilot. “I’ll let George take over.” (and you thought only you were crazy enough to give your car’s GPS a name!)

Landing lips: Female passengers put on their “landing lips” when they use their lipstick just before landing.

So the next time you fly, elbow your way through the gate lice, be sure your seat tray is up for the groin scan, escape your crumb cruncher seat mate with a trip to the lav but make sure that there is blue juice in it, then relax and let George take over and before you know it, it will be time to apply your landing lips to meet your honey!